I live in the margins of technology. As one of the last independent inquiry analysts and the only generalist, I look for things others don’t see. My strength is looking beyond what is reported into the implications and outcomes. I live for the “why” behind an event, the spark of humor, and especially the drama. That’s my passion and why I’m an analyst. I have an AA in Merchandising, BS in Business, an MBA and trained to be a CMA. I build my own PCs, play video games (strategy), and have a Treadmill Desk. Currently I'm building two homes in Belize.

Now calling Steve Jobs a liar after death seems pretty ballsy to me particularly given Schmidt didn’t seem to want to do this during Steve Jobs life. But he could be right and Steve Jobs’ could have been delusional, the “Reality Distortion Field” was his invention after all. On the other hand Schmidt has been testifying in front of congress of late and coming across to some with little credibility suggesting he could be the delusional one.

Working from the Wikipedia Timelines (seems appropriate since this is about Google) for both products, Eric Schmidt’s tenure on Apple’s board, and Jobs comments let’s see of Jobs belief that Schmidt and Google stole from Apple holds together.

So given our fondness for trials this year let’s create a Moot Court with you as the jury and look at the facts.

Facts:

Eric Schmidt joined Apple’s board in 2006 a decade after leaving Sun and had and 5 years after joining Google in 2001. He held that board position until he was forced to resign in 2009 (let’s be serious he was fired) for conflicts of interest related to his position as Google’s CEO. Clearly, Apple’s board thought Schmidt had crossed a line but since Jobs was known to drive his board this isn’t really as telling as it might otherwise be.

Apple’s (we’ll use this timeline for the iPhone) first visible phone was the ROKR, a failed joint project with Motorola that launched in September 2005. Given (using this Android timeline) Google bought the company – Android Inc. – that developed Android in August of that same year you could argue that Apple followed Google, but this was a small acquisition and not widely reported. Android was lost and on life support prior to Google’s purchase and only still alive thanks to an envelope of cash ($10,000) they got from ex-Microsoft executive Steve Pearlman who now runs OnLive. Is short it wasn’t going anyplace before Google bought it, and apparently not doing much in the time between the purchase and Schmidt joining Apple’s board. In short Google bought a concept but seemed to be struggling with a direction for it prior to Schmidt joining Apple otherwise we would have seen some result.

Going to the Google timeline there is no evidence that Google was even interested in phones prior to the acquisition of the Android team. In fact, they seemed to be mostly focused on expanding search and increasingly making copies of Microsoft products like Hotmail. Eventually, in 2006, they bought a company that allowed them to go after Microsoft Office, at the same time Schmidt joined Apple’s board. They didn’t have a good target for Android initially, and so it appeared to stall.

Jobs announced the iPhone in February 2007, and it was released the following June, but it clearly had been defined over the years following the ROKR and finalized in the year after Schmidt joined Google - and he would have been intimate with that effort. Google announced Android the following November and the two from hardware through interface were pretty similar. In China, and apparently for a time at Sears, the differences were surprisingly slight.

With the iPad, Jobs hid that product from Schmidt and Google and Google’s tablet efforts, coincidently, haven’t been as impressive.

The fact that Google copies isn’t in dispute. They clearly have copied Microsoft and really there is nothing wrong with that other than trying to argue the efforts (other than price) are innovative. The sequence of events suggest that someone got the idea of doing a phone before Apple locked down on the iPhone, but after the ROKR, and were unsure as to what to create. That was until the iPhone emerged at Apple and then they created a very similar, though initially inferior product. So we have historical behavior that showcases Google copies, we have motive (to build a better phone), and with Schmidt on the board we have opportunity.

Guilty or Innocent?

In this case you are the jury and you can either buy Eric Schmidt’s explanation of an immaculate birth for Android at Google or Jobs’s explanation which suggests Schmidt mirrored Apple’s efforts.

Form your own opinion: are Google and Schmidt innocent victims of Steve Jobs’ paranoia or did they steal another idea from another company, this time one that trusted them?

Google, when it comes to innovation, you’re no Apple. If you want to be, just remember Steve Jobs’ final words to your CEO: “Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up. It’s now all over the map. Google was making products that are adequate but not great, they’re turning you into another Microsoft”. Or start being a better Google: with Search and products like Maps you have shown you can be better than just a poor copy of someone else.

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Google’s era under Eric Schmidt had involved into multiple crimes in Stanford which is fascism by nature.

Google’s Eric Schmidt had abused google resources to financially and politicially support a criminal suspect named Gabriele Scheler, along with a Stanford Computer Science faculty Sebastian Thrun, against ruling from Stanford and police authorities. During their fight with Stanford, Eric Schmidt’s side had murdered an innocent Stanford student May Zhou in 2007 to threaten me and to terrorize Stanford. When they found I would not compromise a bit but actively tried to clarify the case, Eric Schmidt’s side did plot a murder on me as well. The only reason they didn’t make it a reality is becaue they were closely watched by police and they are afraid of leaving evidence (not becasuse they have any mercy on me as a human being, fascism by nature.) Eric Schmidt lost his CEO position because of his involvment into these crimes. Proof of real names, dates, photos along with a police case number are listed in my blog link [ http://tysurl.com/BsEnQ4 ].

Eric Schmidt and Sebastian Thrun had not paid for their crimes and they would have to, despite all the hypes about them.

My understanding was the first Android from Google was a copy of the blackberry.

Later it became a copy of the iPhone.

So although Android may have predated the iPhone its whole interface changed after Apple’s success.

Also as a board member Schmidt would be privy to regular updates on market strategy and architecture as well as demo products as the phone evolved.

It really crosses the line. It is one thing to copy something from a distance, it is another to have internal communications and possibly demo units given to you to use as the basis for your ‘innovation’.

that’s a pretty bold statement to say that Google stole some from Apple. While I don’t side with any company, I’ll think I have enough guts as Forbes does and openly saying a lot of things. However, it is a beautiful learning experience to read information from Forbes.com as well as other informative news and technology websites. Looking forward to gaining valuable education as well as learning as much as I can from Forbes and many more! :-)

Eric Schmidt: “Google is a great innovator and I would also point out that the Android effort started before the iPhone effort.”

Although it’s questionable whether Android started before the iPhone (Android Inc. was founded by Andy Rubin in 2003 before being bought by Google in 2005), we don’t know when Apple first secretly started development of the iPhone… but we can be certain that it was in development for several years prior to 2007, and it was while Schmidt was on Apple’s board.

The big lie is in the implication that the Android we see on today’s phones came out before the iPhone.

The truth is that originally Android looked like a copy of BlackBerry or Windows Mobile phone OS. This is what an Android “prototype” (not yet on a phone you could buy) in December 2007, 6 months after the iPhone was introduced. It still looked like a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile phone: http://gizmodo.com/334909/google-android-prototype-in-the-wild?tag=gadgetsandroidhardwareinthewild

By the time Google’s first Android phone, the Nexus One, came out in January 2010 (almost 3 years after the first iPhone!) the Android OS and hardware looked like a copy of the iPhone: http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/14/exclusive-first-google-phone-nexus-one-photos-android-2-1-on/

It’s no wonder that Eric Schmidt was booted off the Apple BOD in August 2009. What a sleaze-ball !

All those comenting are just apple sycophants.you only believe anything by apple is true.mr job was just but another loud mouth who thought could blind the whole world.Apple just accept android came before ios no matter how it looked.The idea was out to the whole world first from android os before 2005 yet apple was 2007.fact remains a fact,android was shown to the world before apple.

2005 and 2007 which came out later?who copied who?dont be blinded by being apple sycophants,just because job said so it doesnt mean its true.android was revealed to the whole world before apple so it might be apple that stole the idea after all.google has done good work on android thats why currently its the leading os worldwide and i mean world wide.even in asia and africa apple cant touch android in market penetration.

Totally guilty. Google is not an innovator. They take an existing idea and in some cases do it better, that’s really all they have ever done. Every initial google property was a blatant copy of what already existed on Yahoo. I’m not sure if the general public is dumb or just has no short term memory but I swear Google could say they invented the wheel and the lemmings would flock to it in awe.

Schmidt is right with one thing. Android WAS around before the iPhone. BUT if you all remember Android looked just like Blackberry OS. And it was shown multiple times on devices that looked just like Blackberrys. Those devices had 1/3 screen, 2/3 keyboard WITH a trackball. Nothing like iPhone OS (as it was known before iOS 2).